The Right Thing
by Holly25Trouble
Summary: After TEC. Oneshot. Holly feels guilty about Artemis having his mind wiped. Will she keep her emotions bottled up or can a certain elf make her feel better? HTof course!


**A/N: Hi! This is a oneshot I wrote after TEC. Enjoy!**

Was It the Right Thing to Do?

Excerpt from 'The Eternity Code':

_Holly watched Artemis's life being written in green symbols on the screen. "This doesn't feel right," she commented. "If he found us once, he could find us again. Especially if he goes back to being the monster he was."_

_Foaly tapped commands into an erogdynamic keyboard. "Maybe. But next time we'll be ready." _

_Holly sighed. "It's a pity, because we were almost friends."_

_The centaur snorted. "Sure. Like you can be friends with a viper." _

_Holly suddenly shut her helmet visor, hiding her eyes. "You're right, of course. We could never have been friends it was circumstance that pushed us together, nothing more." _

_Foaly patted her shoulder. "That's the girl. Keep you're ears up. Where are you going?"_

"_Tara," replied Holly. "I'm going to fly. I need the fresh air."_

"_You don't have clearance for a flight," objected Foaly. "Root will have you're badge."_

"_For what?" said Holly, firing up her wings. "I'm not supposed to be here, remember?"_

_And she was gone, flying in a lazy loop through the entrance hall. She cleared the main door with inches to spare, climbing quickly into the night sky. For a second her slim frame was backlit by the full moon, and then she disappeared, vibrating out of the visible spectrum. _

Holly looked over Fowl Manor once more before she set off for Tara. She sighed. _Maybe Foaly was right_, she thought. _Maybe Artemis and I were never meant to be friends. _Holly flew high into the sky and opened her helmet visor to let the cool air in. She felt hot tears coming down the side of her face and quickly wiped them away. She flew lower to the ground. There was one more stop she had to make before going back to Tara. Holly landed next to the giant oak tree and looked around at the area she was standing at. This was where it all started. Artemis fowl had kidnapped Holly from this very spot. She sank to the ground and let the tears slide down her face. Holly sat hunched on the ground for several minutes just letting her tears slide off her face and onto the ground. Finally she stood up and brushed the tears away. _It was for the best_, Holly told herself as she fired up her wings again, _the people will be safer now._ She flew back into the air and towards Tara. Holly landed in front of Tara within five minutes. She looked up at the sky, trying to push the memories that she had of Artemis and Butler standing in front of her only months ago. _Stop it, _she told herself firmly as she walked inside the shuttle port. _It's done with. You can't change what happened. _"Hey Captain." Chix Verbil said to Holly as she put the wings up. Holly turned towards him and held a hand up. "Not now Private." She said and walked off. Holly walked down the crowded streets of Haven towards Police Plaza. _Maybe doing some work will take my mind off of him,_ Holly thought as she walked up the steeps and into Police Plaza. She slipped past Root's office and into her cubical without being noticed. Holly pulled out an e-form and started to fill out the report for the goblins she and Grub had caught the other day. She sat there for sometime writing the report when someone knocked on her cubical wall. Holly swiveled her chair around to see Trouble Kelp standing in front of her. "Hey." Trouble said, giving Holly a warm smile. "What are you still doing here? Our shift was over an hour ago."

"What?" Holly said and looked down at her watch. Trouble was right, her shift had ended an hour ago. "Oh. I was just finishing some paper work." She said and put the file up in her desk and decided that she could finish it tomorrow. Trouble looked Holly over. "Are you okay?" He asked her. Holly looked back at Trouble trying to hide the fact that she was upset about Artemis's mind wipe. "I'm fine," she said, grabbing her apartment key out of her desk and wiping away a tear before Trouble could see it. But he had seen it and looked at her. "You're lying to me," Trouble said firmly. Holly took a deep breath and looked back at Trouble. His face had a soft expression on it and his eyes were full of concern. "They wiped Artemis," Holly said quietly. Trouble nodded his head. He had heard that the mudboy had started to change because of Holly. A lot of people had changed thanks to her, including himself. Holly got up from her chair and walked out of her cubical. Trouble walked with her out of the Plaza. "Do you want me to walk you home?" He asked as they walked down the sidewalk. She looked over at Trouble and nodded her head. They walked down the less crowded street towards Holly's house in silence. They were nearing her house when Trouble broke the silence. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Holly asked, even though she knew what he was talking about.

"The Fowl kid," Trouble said as they walked up to the apartment building. Holly looked at the ground and pulled out her key and opened the door. "Yes," she said quietly and started up the stairs. Trouble followed Holly up the stairs and into her apartment. He closed the door as Holly slumped onto her couch and put her head in her hands. Trouble went into Holly's kitchen and made some coffee for them. "Here," he said walking over to the couch and sitting next to her. Holly took the mug from Trouble and drank deeply from it. "Thanks," she mumbled and took another sip of the coffee. They sat together in silence for a few minutes. Finally Holly broke the silence. "It feels wrong that we mind wiped him," she said darkly. Trouble looked over at Holly. "Why does it feel wrong?" He asked setting his mug down on the coffee table.

"Before I mesmerized Artemis," Holly said putting her own mug on the table. "He said that the person he had become would disappear and the monster that he was when we first met him would return." Trouble shuddered. He remembered Artemis when he had kidnapped Holly almost two years ago. And how he had sent Butler out to 'scare' them. "Root said that the brotherhood said that the likely hood of that happening was slim," Holly continued. Trouble snorted in disbelief.

"And since when did we trust them?" He asked. Holly ignored his remark and continued.

"It just feels so wrong to destroy all of his progress," she said quietly. Trouble wrapped an arm around Holly's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. She didn't move away or do anything. They sat like this for a few moments. "Do you think it was the right thing to do?" Holly asked suddenly, looking up at Trouble, tears were in her eyes again. He thought about it for a few seconds and looked down at Holly. "Yes and no," he said quietly. "Yes, because it was the best thing to do for the people, himself and his family. Artemis maybe a smart person but he just doesn't get that he can put the people that he cares about in danger." Holly nodded her head and laid her head on Trouble's chest. She had yelled at Artemis about the same thing. "No," Trouble continued, "Because we have no right to ruin all the things that have changed for him. Most of those changes were because of you, Holly." He pointed out kindly. Holly looked up at Trouble again. She had started to cry again. "You have a knack for that. I know you've changed me, Root, and Foaly." He said, running a hand through her hair. "Now if only you could change Chix and Grub," Trouble said jokingly. Holly smiled for the first time in what felt like days.

"Thanks," she whispered. "You have no idea what that means to me." Trouble kissed Holly on her forehead.

"You have no idea what you mean to me," Trouble said. He kissed her on the forehead again and held her close.

**A/N: That is it!!! Did you like it? If you did then I'll put the one I have for TOD up!**


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